Once Again
by lilyre
Summary: Short story; maybe just a one-shot, but I might add to it later. The emotions of Lily Evans' best friend Livvy, who hears them, and what it leads to. Awful summary, but it's a good story, I promise.


**_Hi, it's Livvyg! Just a quick explanation of something before you read. (Well, maybe not so quick. Sorry.) Most of you have never heard of Livvy Granger and Marc Esquire, unless you've read other stories by me and Lilyre, which you hopefully have or will. Livvy Granger is one of Lily Evans' best friends (she also happens to be Hermione Granger's aunt), and Marc Esquire is a part of James' group, but... he avoids getting into trouble. (For a better character description, read some of our other stories. 'Lily Evan's Strange Diary' does a good job explaining who Marc and Livvy are.) Please let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy it!_**

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Livvy was curled up in a large, cushy chair in front of the fireplace in the common room. She had a small book on her lap and a quill in her hand, but she was neither reading nor writing. She stared intently at the fire without really seeing it. A tear rolled down her cheek, glinting in the firelight as it fell, and landed on the book in her lap, turning the words _Lily and James_ into one long, blackish smear. 

_How perfect,_ she thought. _Even on paper, Lily and James belong together__. They always have__It was obvious, even when Lily still insisted that she hated him. Everyone, including me__, the social klutz who __knows__ more about books than boys, could tell they belonged together. __And__…_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud, elated laugh from down the corridor. It was Lily's laugh; a laugh that Livvy had heard almost constantly since three days before when James had asked Lily to marry him.

_I laughed like that once, _Livvy remembered bitterly.She reached carefully into an inner pocket of her robe and pulled out a photograph. It was a picture of a tall boy with short brown hair that was slightly messy, tan skin, and a huge grin on his face. His arms were wrapped around a girl with long hair and pale skin. The girl was doubled over with laughter, her blue eyes sparkling. As Livvy watched herself laughing in Marc's arms, another tear fell down onto her diary below. It was followed by another, and another, falling in a steady stream. She closed the diary gently, still looking at the picture. _I was__ so happy then. Marc __and I were __perfect t__oo; everyone said so. __But then…_

Her hand closed tightly on the picture and she threw it at the fireplace. She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. With the diary pressed against her chest, she rocked back and forth in the chair and buried her face in her arms, trying to stifle the bitter tears that refused to stop. She heard the door opening, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps. She stiffened and held her breath, hoping whoever had entered wouldn't notice her. The footsteps came closer and stopped almost directly in front of her. There was a pause, the sound of crumpled paper being opened and smoothed, and then the person spoke.

"Wow. I'm surprised you kept it this long." The voice was soft, and the speaker seemed to be speaking more to himself than to Livvy. "I thought you would have hated me."

"I did," Livvy answered without looking up. She knew the voice well, and, from what he said, could tell that she had missed the fireplace.

"Then why did you keep this, Livvy?"

This time, Livvy didn't answer, but instead raised her head and looked directly into Marc's eyes. He looked at her. She had obviously been crying, but it somehow made her prettier.

After a pause, Livvy admitted, "Because I loved you."

"I'm sorry."

"That I loved you, or that you dumped me?" Livvy stopped hugging her knees and leaned back in the chair.

"The latter," Marc answered seriously.

"I'm sorry too."

"About which?" Marc asked, sinking into the plush chair next to Livvy. He laid the photograph on the small side table in between them. "The former, or the latter?"

"The latter usually… sometimes the former," Livvy said wistfully, fingering the still wrinkled picture.

"I'm not sorry I loved you." Marc reached towards Livvy's hand, but she stood quickly and stepped towards the fireplace, her back to Marc. As she stood, her diary fell to the floor with a thud, lying open. Marc picked it up and began reading the page aloud. "'How could she do this to me? She knew better than anyone how I felt! The sorting hat was right; Elisabeth is an out-and-out Slytherin. She's…'"

Livvy turned around when she recognized her own words and reached for the diary, but Marc pulled her down onto the chair he was sitting in. She threw her arms around his neck and began crying into his shoulder, soaking the collar of his robes with hot tears.

"Why did you dump me?" she demanded in a muffled voice.

"To date Lizzy," Marc replied simply. He had placed the diary on the side table with the picture.

"Why?" Livvy repeated angrily.

Marc paused for a moment, and then answered, "She was pretty..."

"And I'm not?"

"No, Livvy, you're very pretty," Marc whispered, stroking Livvy's long, silky hair. Her head was still on his shoulder, but she had stopped crying.

"Then why did you leave me so you could date Lizzy?"

"She was exciting, and different, and…"

"That's exactly why Remus dumped me!" Livvy exclaimed. She could feel her heart pounding, and was afraid Marc could too, so she raised her head and leaned away. Her face was inches away from Marc's.

Marc kept his hand on the back of Livvy's head, and reached up with his other to dry the tears in her deep blue eyes. He whispered, "Remus didn't know what a good thing he had when he had it." With that, he drew Livvy's face closer to his, until their lips touched…

"Hey, Li…" Lily said as she entered the Common Room. She stopped when she saw Marc and Livvy, both of whom were oblivious to the rest of the world. After recovering somewhat from her momentary surprise, Lily aimed her wand at the portraits and whispered, "_Sensus __deprivus __totalus._" Thus assuring that her two friends wouldn't be interrupted, she backed out of the Common Room silently, grinning.


End file.
